Raven

Today I witnessed something beautiful, cute, funny and just so simple. It made me smile and laugh, I just had to share! The uncomplicated things in life really are the best and so precious when you have the chance to take notice of them.

At the time, I was talking on the phone to a friend. Our discussions were quite intense as there has been some sad news around us lately. It was about people coming to each other’s aid in times of crisis.

As we were chatting, I was sitting outside under the veranda watching the cat laze about in the afternoon sun when something caught my eye. We have a family of Magpies that hang out in our yard. We see them out the front scratching around under the roses and in the grass. Today they were out the back and they seemed to have new focus.

My Dad handmade a bird house for my daughter at Christmas which hangs from our outdoor patio roof with chains. It is designed to be cat and possum proof.

It looks super inviting, I mean I think if I was a bird I would love it. There is seed at the front and near the rear door, it is decorated with beautiful artwork. Yet, we haven’t seen too much action around it. That is until today, when our magpie family discovered it.

The house is really designed for the small bird, not a magpie sized bird. I watched as the four magpies attempted to figure out how to get the seed without tipping the whole house. It was so funny.

The leader of the group first sat on the roof and proceeded to try from several angles to get its beak down near the piles of seed, while the others looked on critically. After some time of trying this and failing, it had a go at gripping onto one of the chains and shuffling its way down towards the house, twisting to crane its neck around to the seed. In a sort of half hanging, galah like fashion it finally had success and ate as much seed as it could before becoming too uncomfortable to continue. Off he flew and the next one flew up to try his luck.

What a pleasure it was to see the simple actions of these birds fulfilling a basic need, the modelling of behaviour and the communication amongst them to make sure everyone had a go.

It reminded me of two things:

1. The uncomplicated nature of basic needs and how sometimes it requires team work and a community to make it happen (pretty much exactly what my friend and I had been discussing).

2. The Magpies also reminded me of a Raven (another bird in the same family) and the Raven is symbolic of an important person who is coming our way this weekend. Now a family member, this person came into our life 4 years ago as an exchange student, who opened our hearts and minds to a whole new world. For her people, Raven means change or transformation and is often associated with healing.

Let us hope a change is coming, for some healing of the sole and healing of the hurt around us.

LLS xxx